The goal of the proposed conference, Opportunities for Hydrocephalus Research: Pathways to Better Outcomes scheduled for July 9-11, 2012 in Seattle, WA, is to focus the collective efforts of all hydrocephalus investigators towards areas of research that could lead to short-term wins which would have a direct and immediate impact on patient care, as well as long-term studies which are likely to produce meaningful progress in the next several years. The short-term gains will likely come in the form of improved diagnostic testing using biomarkers and/or imaging, improvements in biomedical applications to treat hydrocephalus and new clinical trials leading to improved outcomes utilizing current technology and treatment modalities. The long-term advances will likely include improvements in our understanding of the critical pathophysiology of hydrocephalus and the potentially alterable genetic modifiers inherent in disease origination and/or progression. Collectively, a longitudinal understanding of the outcomes seen in patients with hydrocephalus can lead to improved patient/family counseling and neurocognitive interventions that may lessen the burden of disease. The proposed conference will bring together scientists from multiple disciplines including basic neuroscience, neurosurgery, neurology, psychiatry/psychology, neurotrauma, developmental disorders, neural tube defects, bioengineering, infectious disease, diagnostic imaging, and applied mathematics. These experts, all of which are currently involved in hydrocephalus research, as well as others whose studies could bring new innovative approaches into the field, will share novel and recent findings, discuss critical issues, identify emerging scientific opportunities, and provide a focus for translational research that is most likely to produce quantum advancements in the treatment of hydrocephalus. The proposed conference will be different from previous conferences by being more clinically oriented or patient-centric and focused on the identification of very specific, i.e. top 5 issues in each major field that could lead to a translatable discovery or treatment in the next five years. We wil produce a comprehensive publication of the proceedings of this conference, and are confident that it will generate landmark decisions on the direction that meaningful research in hydrocephalus should follow in the next 10 years. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: The goal of the proposed conference, Opportunities for Hydrocephalus Research: Pathways to Better Outcomes scheduled for July 9-11, 2012 in Seattle, WA, is to focus the collective efforts of all hydrocephalus investigators towards areas of research that could lead to short-term wins which would have a direct and immediate impact on patient care, as well as long-term studies which are likely to produce meaningful progress in the next several years. This conference will generate landmark decisions on the direction that meaningful research in hydrocephalus should follow in the next 10 years.